Obstetric Violence in Croatia: A Call for Change

The term ‘obstetric violence’ refers to procedures performed during childbirth without a woman’s informed consent or medical necessity; these can involve violating her privacy, forcing her into positions, restricting her movement, denying her food or water, or subjecting her to humiliation or verbal abuse.

In some countries, such as Argentina and Venezuela, obstetric violence has been recognized in law as the 2000s as a distinct form of violence against women.

More recently, in March of this year, Portugal adopted specific legislation protecting the rights of women during childbirth.

In Croatia, however, such violations only became a public issue in 2018 when the NGO Roda launched an online campaign under the slogan ‘Break the Silence’.

Hundreds of women came forward with harrowing accounts of childbirth; the following year, in response to the campaign, two UN special rapporteurs and a UN working group on discrimination against women submitted recommendations to the government and urged an independent inquiry into alleged violations of sexual and reproductive rights.

In a joint statement, they said they were “appalled” by the testimonies, which included accounts of women being bound to their beds by their legs and arms; they called for the results of the investigation to be made public and for the drafting of a national action plan for women’s health.

“We are deeply concerned about women being subjected to painful treatments without anesthesia, including surgical miscarriage procedures, uterine scrapes, removal of placenta, stitching after birth, episiotomies being conducted against their will and disrespectful treatment of women by health personnel,” they said.

Seven years later,Croatia still does not have its own national guidelines for the care of women when labor is progressing normally.

“We believe that experts in gynaecology and obstetrics continuously monitor indicators, ensure the quality of care provided, and apply the relevant guidelines for childbirth care,” the Health Ministry said, without specifying what ‘relevant guidelines’ it was referring to.

Everything she didn’t want

When she was admitted to hospital, Marija’s birth plan was placed with the rest of her medical paperwork in the room where she was assigned a bed.

in it, she stated that she wished to be informed about every medi